All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95), published by The Lockman Foundation

How do you view suffering for the spiritual and eternal good of others? Too often, we’re so selfish and self-seeking that we count it a burden to have to give up comforts, conveniences, and approval in order to provide services for our brethren in Christ. We lack the others-centered concern for others that our Lord taught us to have, and we can end up grudgingly forcing ourselves to give the time, energy, and resources to our brethren to meet their needs. Not only does this contradict the attitude of Jesus, but dozens of times we see Paul the apostle expressing a contradictory disposition toward serving his brethren in Christ. We see such a Christlike attitude exemplified in his letter to the Colossians.

Contrary to having an annoyed, sorrowful, or begrudging attitude, Paul shows us that it’s a joy to suffer for the good of others. In fact, this was the tenor of Paul’s entire life. The day he recognized who Jesus was, and entrusted himself to His service through repentance and faith, he entered into5 a self-defacing, and other-centered service of his brethren, and of the unbelieving world. Even more than this, the Lord entrusted him with a ministry to the very people he used to hate – the non-Jewish Gentiles. And yet, his service of bringing salvation and eternal life to these outcasts was the very thing he poured himself out for. He counted it not only his duty, but a joy to serve unbelieving pagans with the gospel, and he says as much in his letter to the Colossians.

In one particular section of this letter, he provides a summary description of the essential parts of his gospel ministry to the world. This description includes four facets of it – it’s a joy, a stewardship, a service, and a labor. From this concise description, we can learn how to have a right view and attitude toward our own service of our brethren, and to our unbelieving neighbors. I’d explain this passage in these four parts:

  1. He rejoices in filling up Christ’s afflictions
  2. He serves to fulfill Christ’s Word
  3. He announces Christ to present complete men
  4. He strives with Christ’s power to these ends

Let’s read this passage, and then delve into explaining it:

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a  minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the . . . word of God . . . the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing everyn man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

First, let’s look at Paul’s rejoicing in his afflictions.

He Rejoices in Filling Up Christ’s Afflictions

The first attitude Paul describes for himself is one of joy in his suffering for his Gentile brethren. It would have been plain to the Colossians that Paul was a suffering servant, since he had sent this letter from house arrest, and they had doubtless heard of his numerous persecutions and trials that he had endured in his several missionary journeys across the Mediterranean world. And why did he undergo such suffering, even as he awaited a hearing with the Roman emperor to defend himself against Jewish accusations? Because he was engaged in the spread of the gospel to the various pagan communities throughout the Roman Empire. Further, he also taught God’s Word to new converts to Jesus from the Gentiles. His entire life was devoted to teaching Gentiles to trust, know, and obey the Lord Jesus, and he had to suffer mistreatment and deprivation to do so.

Anyone who has given a cursory reading to Acts will see that Paul endured some of the greatest suffering that ever a man did. The frequency and severity of his persecutions are astonishing, as he incessantly was treated with contempt, scorn, hatred, and violence month by month, for several years. Despite the great damage this persecution, along with the trials necessary to make his journeys, did to his body and his peace of mind, he rejoices in his sufferings for the good of Gentile believers (v. 24).

Why did Paul express gladness for suffering discomfort, pain, distress, and anxiety in his service of others? Because he was doing “his share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”. This was key to Paul’s joy. He didn’t view himself as suffering merely as an individual man, who was being mistreated because of who he was. Rather, he saw himself as suffering for Christ’s body, and with Christ.

Thus, there are two reasons Paul rejoices in his sufferings here. The first is that it’s for the good of the body of Christ, and the second is because his sufferings fill up what’s left in Christ’s afflictions. Since the first reason has already been explained, and is relatively easy to understand, we’ll focus on explaining how Paul was “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” through his suffering. By saying this, Paul is implying that the afflictions Christ suffered during his life weren’t enough to accomplish all that Jesus was appointed by God to do. This seems quite absurd, since Jesus’s suffering on the cross was clearly sufficient to satisfy God’s wrath, and pay the full penalty for all the world’s sins, in order to redeem all who will ever be saved. However, Jesus dying on the cross didn’t effect the actual salvation in time of all whom God has chosen to be saved. People still have to learn the gospel, and believe it to be saved. And this is where Paul’s suffering came in. Since he was one with Jesus, and preaching and serving on Jesus’s behalf, he was also suffering in Jesus’s stead whenever he suffered in His service. To put it another way, Jesus was carrying on His redemptive ministry through Paul, as He used him to bring the gospel to people, and to persuade them to repent and be converted. Hence, through Paul’s sufferings, the Lord was suffering with him, since He was working through him to bring people into His salvation. Specifically, however, Paul has in mind the persecution he endured for making disciples of Jesus, since he was being mistreated because of the work of Christ. And this work was accomplished through the newly revealed gospel of Christ.

He Serves to Fulfill Christ’s Word

The second characteristic of Paul’s ministry described here is his stewardship of the fulfillment of God’s Word. Not only was he filling up Christ’s afflictions, but he was also filling up His Word. In this second description, he first defines his job title, and then explains God’s purpose for his ministry. He begins by calling himself a servant and a steward. Although most translations use the word “minister,” this is an archaic translation of the Greek word diakonos, which literally means a menial servant. He was appointed to serve Christ’s body in his suffering for Christ. And he did this through his stewardship. What is a stewardship? It’s the responsibility for taking care and managing the property or resources of someone else. In this case, the stewardship that God “bestowed” on him for the Gentiles’ benefit was “the word of God”. In other words, God entrusted him with His Word, so that he would preach and teach it to the Gentile multitudes, and reveal Christ to them.

But in these verses, Paul describes his stewardship as historically climactic in the scope of God’s redemption of mankind. This is because Paul preached the gospel in the first time in history in which Christ had been fully revealed. That’s why he calls God’s Word “the mystery which has been hidden from the . . . ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints” (v. 26).

And the ways in which God was using Paul to reveal Christ to people are simply beautiful. First, Paul had the responsibility to “fully carry out the . . . word of God”. The Greek terms Paul uses here could be literally translated “make full the word of God”. That is, through Paul’s preaching and teaching, he was fulfilling what God had intended for His Word to accomplish. Second, Paul had the honor to make Christ known in His redemptive glory. He describes this as making “known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (v. 27). The content of what Paul was preaching and teaching was riches of glory, which consisted in the truth and reality that people could have Christ live inside them, and give them the hope of experiencing God’s glory through their conformity into His image, and their participation in the new creation. This conformity to Christ’s image is the purpose of ministry Paul describes next.

He Announces Christ to Present Complete Men

In verse 28, Paul writes one of the most concise statements of his, and every missionary’s, task in this world. It serves as the explanation of how he engages in fulfilling God’s Word as a steward. In fact, this articulation of Paul’s ministry should serve as the basic mission statement of every local Christian congregation and organization. It’s basically Paul’s version of the Great Commission.

There are three elements in this mission statement. The first is his declaration, the second is his instruction, and the third is his presentation. The first main work of Paul and his missionary companions is to declare the character and accomplishments of Christ – to “proclaim Him”. This mainly sums up his initial gospel preaching to unbelievers, although it serves as the basis of his personal instruction of believers. It’s consonant with his purpose statement found in the first letter to the Corinthians, where he says he “determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). The second apostolic work that Paul explains is the means of proclaiming Jesus as the anointed Lord and Savior. He expresses this manner in two participles which describe his proclamation of Christ. He does so by “admonishing” and “teac”ing” every man “with all wisdom”. The word “admonish,” in the Greek literally means “put to mind,” and is usually used in the New Testament to point out someone’s faults, and explain how they ought to correct them. That’s why the ESV translates this word as “warn”. However, since it’s the same word that Paul uses when he describes the local assembly’s mutual encouragement of each other through “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16), and the example of Paul is to provide complete and continuous arguments to correct and chastise people, I take this word to mean more than simply warn in summary and blunt ways. Instead, I take him to mean something more like counseling with careful argument to persuade people of their errors, faults, or dangers, and explain how they must repent and remedy their situations. But this is the negative aspect of his instruction. Obviously, the positive form of this comes in the apostolic “teaching,” meaning appropriate and systematic education in the teachings from Jesus and His apostles. And what is the grand end in view for this ministry? It’s to “present every man complete in Christ”. Now, we need to note that Paul isn’t thinking that it’s possible to complete, or perfect literally every person in Christ. This is clear from Paul’s own words elsewhere, such as in 2 Corinthians, where he explains that some people who hear his preaching only hear to compound their guilt and condemnation (“an aroma . . . from death to death to those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:16)). Yet, Paul’s emphasis in his teaching was for believers, whom he sought to complete through God’s Word, so that they would eventually be spiritually mature, and then perfect. He pictures them like works of art that he’s seeking to build into Christ’s image, so he can present them to God on judgment day as perfect in godliness and virtue.

So, this was Paul’s great purpose on earth. He announced Jesus to people, so they’d trust in Him, and he could wisely counsel and teach them to become completely Christlike. But he didn’t do this in his own, natural and physical, strength.

He Strives with Christ’s Power

To conclude his breakdown of his apostolic and missionary ministry, Paul briefly reminds the Colossians of the source of his strength and energy. He ends by stating that he labored and was striving in his ministry to present people as complete Christians (v. 29). He clearly didn’t treat this as an easy, or painless, task. It required him to labor, or work hard. And in so doing, he was striving, or agonizing, in his efforts. But thankfully, he had no need to rely on his feeble, faulty, and failing flesh. Instead, he was working by Christ’s power, “which mightily works” within him. Thus, all his motivation, strength, and energy in serving people with God’s Word and wisdom came from Christ Himself. He was supernaturally empowered to speak, preach, counsel, and teach, and therefore the credit and praise was deserved by Christ, and not him. Nevertheless, we must remember that in our physical frames, this power working in us uses our own natural strength and intellect to accomplish its ends, and therefore drains our bodies to the point of exhaustion, as it did Paul’s.

Rejoice in Suffering, Serving, Proclaiming, and Laboring

Paul clearly gives us one of the best examples in Scripture of serving the Lord in service to His body. The four aspects of his lifestyle in this passage provide us with worthy traits to emulate. So, please examine yourself in the light of Paul’s example, and answer these questions:

  1. Do you rejoice to suffer for the good of your brethren, Christ’s body? And do you also rejoice from suffering persecution for serving the Lord?
  2. Are you being a good steward of the gospel by sharing it with people who don’t understand why it’s good news?
  3. Are you consciously invested in the work of completing people in Christlikeness through the preaching and teaching of the truth of Scripture?
  4. Do you rely on the Lord’s power for your strength in everyday living and laboring through faith in His promises and prayers for enablement?

Oh, that all believers on this earth would labor and strive to proclaim the glory and beauty of Christ to unbelievers, and to teach their brethren to obey all that He commanded us through the apostles! Determine this day to think and act like a steward of “the riches of the glory” of “the hope of glory” that lives within you as a worshiper of the once afflicted by sin, but now reigning Lord and Savior.